


I'll Spin For You Like Your Favourite Records Used To

by Rhensis



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Reigisa Week, Some angst?, not rlly tbh, this is p much just trash but i rlly wanted to write smth for reigisa week ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 22:12:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3225323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhensis/pseuds/Rhensis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa and Rei make a kind of marriage pact; eight years later, and a sudden reunion brings it right back to the forefront of their minds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Spin For You Like Your Favourite Records Used To

**Author's Note:**

> hi yes hello i was gonna take part in reigisa week more but like ,,, life happened so yah i will eventually (?) have my unfinished fics for the other days up tho so look forward to them. this is also on my tumblr kaleidanscope.tumblr.com/mywriting (or will be momentarily). this is unedited lmao so i might go back and do that at some point maybe not who knows

“Are you alright, Nagisa-kun?” Rei asks quietly, looking up to find a grim-faced Nagisa. Nagisa sighs, letting his pen drop out of his fingers and bringing his hands up to cover his face instead.

“I don’t _understand_ any of this. It doesn’t make sense. Who the hell came up with this crap?” Nagisa says with a groan, talking against his palms, muffling the sound. Rei only just makes it out, and it’s one of the many times that he wishes Nagisa wouldn’t talk so _quickly_. Usually, he’d chastise Nagisa for it but right now, it looks like his friend is in much more need of a hug.

“It’s not so hard once you get it. You’ve just got to get it to click,” Rei tries diplomatically, nudging Nagisa’s knee with his foot to try and startle the boy into moving his face from his palms.

Nagisa just groans again though, and Rei sighs. Once Nagisa is set on _not_ doing something, he’s as adamant about it as he is when he’s set on actually doing something.

“Do you want to take a little break?” Rei asks instead, changing tact. Nagisa shrugs limply, slumping a little bit more, and Rei pokes him with his foot again. “Hey, Nagisa-kun, maths is important. Wanna know why?”

“Why, Rei-chan?”

“Because, if you don’t get maths, you won’t understand some of my _best_ jokes.”

“Jokes?” Nagisa asks, finally taking his head out of his hands. Rei doesn’t exactly appreciate the incredulous tone with which the blond says it, but he decides to ignore it, opting to enthusiastically nod his head instead.

“Yup. For example: Why don’t you do arithmetic in the jungle?”

“Uh,” Nagisa says, squinting his eyes. He’s usually quite good at guessing the punchlines to Rei’s jokes (about ninety percent of them come from the internet, and the other ten percent are Nagisa’s own, so he’s pretty much learnt them all), but this time he just shrugs.

“Because, Nagisa-kun,” Rei replies, closing his eyes and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a smug grin, “If you add four and four, you get ate!”

There’s a split second in which the only laughter that fills the room is Rei’s, with Nagisa just looking on at him with utter disbelief at the horrific joke, which is akin to the kind of jokes that Nagisa’s dad makes, which _really_ says how bad it is.

But then there’s a giggle bubbling in his chest, and he finds it spilling out, joining Rei’s. He’s half in hysterics by the time he’s finished, clutching his side and falling back with a squeal of “Rei-chan’s an idiot!”, before curling up on his side on the floor.

“See? Maths is _great_.” Rei says as his laugh dies down, folding his arms and grinning a smile of pride.

“No, no, Rei-chan, maths is _awful_ , and your jokes are _worse_.” Nagisa says through his tears, clutching his side.

“Hmph, I’ll have you know my jokes are not awful. Another one: What kind of tree could a maths teacher climb? Geometry!”

“Oh my _God_ ,” Nagisa giggles, pushing himself up a bit, one hand still wrapped around his aching sides. “Oh my _God_ that’s _awful,_ oh my God _stop_ ,”

“Have you heard about the maths plant, Nagisa-kun?” Rei continues, apparently ignoring Nagisa’s pleas (after all, Rei’s learnt from Nagisa that when someone says a joke is _bad_ , they actually mean quite the opposite). “It has square roots!”

Nagisa puts his head on the table in front of him, digging his hands into his hair as he groans again at the joke. He can’t quite mask the fact that he’s still fucking _laughing_ though, and honestly, he knows he’s just encouraging his boyfriend, who he can imagine probably looks rather pleased with himself right now.

“And it’s not just jokes, Nagisa-kun.” Nagisa lifts his head up, terrified about what Rei could be about to reveal next, “Maths gives an impressive arsenal of pickup lines.”

“Pickup lines?”

“Yes, for example. My love for you is like a concave up function; it’s always increasing,”

Nagisa tilts his head to the side with a small ‘huh?’, and Rei quickly scrambles to draw him out a concave up function, scribbling the line on makeshift axes.

“Aww, Rei-chan,” Nagisa says as he describes the infinite nature of the curve, “I’ve never felt both so loved and so insulted,”

“Our love,” Rei begins, looking away from Nagisa with a very slight hint of a blush on his cheeks, “is like dividing by zero; you cannot define it,”

“Rei- _chan_ ,” Nagisa groans, putting his face back in his hands like he was earlier. He starts to mumble against his palms, whispering about how Rei is so damn _cute_ that it’s actually _disgusting_ , but Rei doesn’t catch a word of it, instead frowning, concerned that Nagisa’s suddenly hiding again.

“Did I do something wrong?” He asks as he leans forward, prying Nagisa’s fingers away from his face.

He reveals flushed cheeks, and the muscles in his back relax again. Honestly, it’s surprisingly easy to make Nagisa blush like this; the kid might be able to dish out all the compliments in the world, but Rei’s noticed he finds it hard to actually take them. Especially from Rei, actually, on reflection.

“You’re such a loser, you know that, right?” Nagisa begins, and Rei’s about to cut him off to interject that he is _not_ a loser, thank you very much, but Nagisa’s there too fast- “Marry me one day, okay? In like, ten years or whatever. Marry me, alright?”

“N-Nagisa,” Rei stammers, moving his hands away from Nagisa’s face.

Nagisa shakes his head, dropping both hands to the table and forcing them into fists as he speaks. “I don’t mean like, right now. And I don’t mean stay with me forever because you’re probably gonna get sick of me and leave in like, a year at most, but if you don’t find anyone else to marry, please marry me.”

“As if I’d get sick of you, Nagisa-kun,” Rei says softly, placing one of his hands over Nagisa’s fists. “But okay, ten years. Ten years today.”

Nagisa nods earnestly with a grin. “I swear though, Rei, tell me one more maths joke and the deal is off,”

Rei pouts, folding his arms indignantly. “And just what is _wrong_ with my maths jokes?”

“Ah-ah, let’s not get into that or I’ll _never_ finish my homework.”

-

Nagisa’s fingers are trembling a little as he starts to do up the buttons on his shirt. He runs through everything in his head once more – report to the main reception to be picked up, lunch is at two so make sure to eat a fair amount for breakfast, and be prepared for _anything_.

Surprisingly, the second of those instructions is the one that he finds himself struggling with the most. He feels quite sick, to be frank, his stomach turning and his throat clamping up. It’s ridiculous, really; he didn’t feel like this before either of his last two jobs, and even if this is by far better than both of those, he isn’t sure _quite_ why he’s so anxious.

Perhaps it’s because the house is so quiet. That’s one very different thing about the last two times he’s started a new job – he wasn’t alone for either of those first mornings.

It’s not like waking up in the morning alone is a new thing. It’s certainly not – it’s been about eight months since the last time he woke up with someone, give or take a little. Most mornings, it’s okay, he likes being alone (he used to always get chastised about how slow he can be when he first wakes up, and he never particularly enjoyed the teasing), but right now it’d just be _nice_ to have someone to reassure him.

He hasn’t had to do up a tie since high school, so it takes him a couple of tries, but eventually he gets it right. He doesn’t go so far as a blazer, but he tucks the shirt into his jeans (skinny and black, about as smart as you get when it comes to his wardrobe) and fastens a similarly coloured belt around his waist.

He nods at his reflection when he’s done, smoothing down his tie.

It’s not a long walk from his little apartment to the station, and even less so from the station he gets off at to the place he’s working at now. As he walks, he keeps his eyes on the ground, not affording himself the luxury of checking out the scenery. He likes to be kept anonymous, and people that look too optimistic and involved are certainly not that.

He stands awkwardly at the reception for just a moment, remembering how it said someone would be there for him at exactly half eight. He glances down at his watch, waiting for the seconds hand to tick over onto the-

“Ah, you must be-”

The voice cuts itself off.

Nagisa feels sick again when he hears it, and he’s glad that he didn’t have any breakfast or it’d probably be on his shoes right now. The word spills out of his mouth before he even realises what he’s saying, and his rather blunt exclamation of “Rei-chan!” makes the man in front of him go deathly pale.

“Ah-ah, Nagisa… Hazuki-kun,” Rei corrects himself, re-adjusting his tie.

Nagisa doesn’t even bother to take a note of the forced formality, instead just unashamedly _staring_. He swears to God that Rei is even wearing the same damn glasses as the last time he saw him (at eighteen years old with his hands in his pockets and tears in his eyes as he said that long distance was illogical and it could never work and he’d rather be heartbroken now than later).

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa mumbles. He can see Rei visibly swallow at that.

“I’m here to give you a tour and-”

“Do I not even get a ‘hello’?” Nagisa asks quietly, letting his head fall. He gazes at his shoes, his ever unruly curls falling over his face.

“It’s just,” Rei begins, and Nagisa can hear him taking a step forward. “It’s been a while and I haven’t spoken to you in what, 7 years, and I just-”

“Did you ever find anyone?” Nagisa asks quickly, shutting Rei up before he can say anything else.

Rei’s mouth stays open, the half-formed word still on his lips. It’s not exactly cordial or polite for Nagisa to be asking, especially not in such a blunt manner, but Rei hasn’t forgotten _that_ about Nagisa. His ability to say whatever he wants whenever he wants, a mechanism designed to hide the few things that he wanted to keep quiet.

He can’t give a verbal answer. Instead, he shakes his head slowly, and it’s that that makes Nagisa’s head swim a little.

“Me neither.” Nagisa says with a slight smile, the words that he said eight years ago pulsing through his mind.

_But if you don’t find anyone else to marry, please marry me._

-

“I meant what I said,”

“Ten years,” Rei mumbles the second Nagisa has finished, looking down at Nagisa in his arms.

Nagisa stirs slightly, shifting around to look up at Rei. He places his chin gently on Rei’s chest, giving himself a good angle to look at Rei.

His glasses are still off. He’s ruffled, hair pulled every which way by Nagisa, and his neck is undoubtedly going to be marked for a few days considering the red patches all over it (once again, Nagisa’s responsibility). Still, despite how undeniably wrecked Rei looks, Nagisa can’t help but think that this is when Rei is at his most beautiful. It always was, and it still is today.

“Ten years, Rei-chan?” Nagisa repeats, placing a hand lightly on Rei’s chest.

“You said that you meant what you said. And you said, ten years. Ten years from March when we were 17. So we still have two years before then,” Nagisa nods, carefully making circles on Rei’s skin with his hand. “I never really,” Rei sucks in a breath, looking away, a blush creeping up his neck, “I never connected with anyone else.”

“I did,” Nagisa admits quickly. Rei’s face falls, but Nagisa’s just as quick to shake his head as he was to admit it. “I did, for a little while. Well, two years. But it wasn’t the _same_ , it never could be. So I broke up with her just under a year ago.”

Rei’s skin is warm against Nagisa’s, and Nagisa takes the silence that follows to appreciate it. His legs are still half-entangled with Rei’s, his body still pulsing from a few minutes ago. Rei really _is_ beautiful, and goddamn it has he missed him.

“We still have two years. And really, I’d like to take you out for a coffee before we get married. At least twice.”

Nagisa can’t stop himself from giggling, and Rei grins as he feels Nagisa’s chest rising and falling against his own. “Twice? That’s all the great polite, proper Rei-chan needs before accepting a marriage proposal?”

“Hmm, well,” Rei ponders, “Probably not when it comes to anyone else. But for you, yeah, Nagisa-kun,”

“Aww, Rei-chan,” Nagisa mumbles, hiding his blush by pressing his face against Rei’s chest, “That’s almost as sweet as your old maths pickup lines.”

“I should put them in our wedding vows,” Rei suggests, Nagisa is sure with _complete sincerity_. Nagisa’s bolting up in a flash, shaking his head adamantly.

“Don’t you fucking dare. I will fucking leave the altar. I will, I swear to God, don’t you dare,”

“Nagisa,” Rei says softly, placing a hand on Nagisa’s cheek and drawing his face towards his own. Whatever words he had to say next are lost as Nagisa closes the small distance left, placing his lips against Rei’s. His are chapped and raw from the lack of heating in his apartment, and Rei’s are soft, just a small part ripped off from where Rei chews his own lips when he’s anxious. It’s not as if Nagisa has to memorise that, he learnt it a long time ago, far before he managed to grasp a single type of maths equation. “Nagisa, I was kidding,” Rei mumbles when Nagisa finally pulls away, and Nagisa shakes his head with a scoff.

“So you finally learnt how to do that, huh?”

-

“Are you alright, Nagisa-kun?” Rei mouths, making sure that no one else can hear him. Nagisa nods just a little, not enough to disturb his hair.

“Are you?” Nagisa mouths back, earning himself a dirty look from the man reading out the first part of their vows. Nagisa has to stop himself giggling, and Rei is struggling too.

“Just great.” Comes Rei’s reply, and Nagisa can’t help but imagine that his mother is watching this exchange with a look of disdain. After all, her son _would_ ruin his own marriage ceremony.

“I promise,” Rei begins, voice trembling a little, “To love and respect you like a fractal – forever.”


End file.
